Traditional forms of entertainment are becoming increasingly digitized and accessible to a wider audience. For example, in Japan, a popular form of entertainment, Karaoke, is available to a wider participating audience as a result of digitization. Because digitization reduces the cost of many products and services, Karaoke "juke boxes" are found in many business establishments so that their patrons may enjoy their use.
Digitized Karaoke juke boxes are an improvement over traditional juke boxes. Instead of replacing vinyl records, a service technician visiting each site simply loads software to update the song choices available to the user with the latest music. Moreover, on a display, words can be scrolled at the same time as the music plays. This multimedia Karaoke experience, while an improvement over traditional juke boxes, however, is expensive since it requires service calls by technicians for updating. Moreover, there is a lag between the release of a song and the time it is installed on a Karaoke juke box. Furthermore, the Karaoke song list books are printed on paper and thus are easily lost, damaged or destroyed. Additionally, in accounting, it is difficult to keep track of the songs which have been played so that royalties may be paid to the artists. A new method and apparatus which does not require visits by technicians to Karaoke sites and resolves the other problems described above would be beneficial.
While Karaoke is enjoyed by patrons of business establishments, home Karaoke participation is currently limited to playing and singing along with a record or CD. Some of the disadvantages to a home Karaoke participant include that he/she must leave home to purchase the music content and that he/she does not have the sing-along aid of scrolling words.
As more users access the Internet and the associated World-Wide-Web, more vendors are providing multimedia content data which is readily accessible by consumers. Depending upon the bandwidth capability of the transmission hardware, among other things, different types of content are accessible by consumers, including video, audio, graphic and ASCII data. Moreover, particularly with the advent of browser technology, such as Netscape, a user can readily access data from servers all over the world.
Recently, new programming languages have been developed which allows programs to be written which enhance browser technology. While not widely used yet, programs which are written in these languages can be embedded into a browser and promise to provide a user with a nearly seamless on-line multimedia experience. Such a language, Java (TM) language, has been developed by Sun Microsystems'(R) Computer Corporation.
Java is an object-oriented language similar to C++ in many ways, but specifically developed to provide cross-platform capability and reduce the complexities of C++. Generally speaking, an object-oriented language facilitates the clean definition of interfaces and makes it possible to provide reusable "software ICs." Java provides multimedia capabilities which are operating system and hardware independent. The Java software architecture is designed to support platforms ranging from personal computers to embedded network devices of the type similar to a Java desktop device (recently announced by Sun and Oracle). Sun Microsystems has a Java homepage where the Java language specifications can be accessed among other instructive programming materials at Http://JAVA.SUN.COM/doc/Overview/java/index.html.
It would be beneficial to both commercial and home users for the distribution of Karaoke and other multimedia content to be provided on-line by an Internet-type distribution system.